Appalachian transition: Why coalfield residents need to help themselves diversify their economy

[theHandpuppet]

3. Thank you for this post.

A refreshing perspective.

I'll bet a lot of folks here are unaware of this, either....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/moving-mountains-tragedy_b_5700980.html
Moving Mountains Tragedy 2014: Stunning Court Denial of Appalachian Health Crisis
Jeff Biggers, Journalist/Historian
08/22/2014

In a breathtaking but largely overlooked ruling this week, a federal judge agreed that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may disregard studies on the health impacts of mountaintop removal mining in its permitting process, only two weeks after Goldman Prize Award-winning activist Maria Gunnoe wrote an impassioned plea to President Obama to renew withdrawn funding for US Geological Survey research on strip mining operations and redouble federal action to address the decades-old humanitarian disaster....

I certainly don't need to be reminded why Democrats are losing Appalachia. We've been working hard at it for decades now.